BRUCE GARRIOCH, QMI Agency

With the Senators set to open camp Friday at Scotiabank Place, GM Bryan Murray told the Ottawa Sun in a wide-ranging interview he had a good chat with the club’s top centre this summer.

Speaking during a break in the rookie tournament at the John Labatt Centre, Murray said he and coach Cory Clouston had a four-hour meeting with Spezza, his father Reno and agent Rick Curran at a restaurant in Ottawa to make sure everybody was seeing eye-to-eye.

This came after Spezza suggested during a post-season meeting that he wouldn’t stand in the way of a trade.

“We had a really good meeting in the middle of the summer,” Murray said Saturday. “We had a real good discussion and maybe there was a little bit of exaggeration on my part when I made a couple of comments that he wanted out.

“He just wants, like a lot of players, to be important and to feel that we understand what he wants to be (during) his career and what he’s capable of being. We’ve got a guy who is committed to the Ottawa Senators.”

Murray said Spezza doesn’t have to be superhuman.

“We need him to be Jason Spezza,” said Murray. “The ability level that this guy has is pretty high in comparison to a lot of players in the league. We just want him to be that.

“He doesn’t have to carry the team and nobody is looking for anything extraordinary. He just has to be a good player. Offensively, he can make a big contribution, he can make our power play better and lead the way a little bit. Some nights if the puck’s not going in for you, just do things that make you noticed in the game.”